Look and motion
Position and animate clips, grade them, add effects, masks and keys, and join them with transitions. Everything here is set in the inspector for the selected clip, and the preview matches the export.
Transform and crop
- Transform: X and Y are the clip's centre as a share of the frame (0 to 1, 0.5 is the middle), Scale 1 fits the frame, and Opacity.
- Crop: left, top, right and bottom, each up to 45% of the picture.
Keyframes
X, Y, Scale and Volume can change over a clip. Put the playhead inside the clip and press the keyframe button next to a value to add a keyframe there; change the value at another time to add another. The same button removes the keyframe under the playhead. With keyframes on a clip, the inspector follows the playhead and shows the value at that moment.
Keyframes made in the inspector ease in and out. Agents can also set linear or hold keyframes with set_keyframe. There is no keyframe lane or curve editor yet.
Zooms
A zoom pushes in on part of a video clip and back out, like a screen recorder's auto-zoom. Right-click a clip and choose Zoom in here, then adjust it in the inspector's Zoom section: From and To (times inside the clip), Amount, Focus X and Y (the point to zoom into) and Ease (how long it takes to push in and out).
Colour and LUTs
| Control | Range |
|---|---|
| Brightness | -1 to 1 |
| Contrast | 0 to 3 (1 is unchanged) |
| Saturation | 0 to 3 (1 is unchanged; 0 is black and white) |
| Temperature | -1 (cooler) to 1 (warmer) |
| LUT | Any .cube file, chosen with Choose a .cube LUT |
Grade one clip at a time, or put an adjustment layer over a stretch of the timeline to grade everything under it.
Effects
| Effect | What it does |
|---|---|
| Blur | Softens the picture, 0 to 1. |
| Sharpen | Crisps up detail, 0 to 1. |
| Vignette | Darkens the corners, 0 to 1. |
| Glow | Adds a soft, blurred glow over the picture, 0 to 1. |
| Stabilise | Smooths out shaky footage, zooming in slightly to hide the moving edges. It is analysed when you export, so the preview shows the clip unstabilised. |
On an adjustment layer, blur, sharpen and vignette apply to everything below it: a blurred background behind a title, for example.
Masks
A mask shows only part of a clip. Choose a rectangle or an ellipse and set its centre X and Y, width and height (as shares of the picture), and a feather for a soft edge. Invert shows the outside of the shape instead. Masks work on adjustment layers too, to grade or blur just one area.
Chroma key
Chroma key removes a green or blue screen. Start with Green screen or Blue screen, or type a colour or use Pick from screen. Then raise Similarity until the background is gone and use Edge softness to blend the edges. Put the keyed clip on a track above the background you want to show through.
Adjustment layers
- In the Media panel, choose New adjustment layer at the playhead. It goes on a new top track.
- Trim it to the stretch of time you want, like any clip.
- Set its colour, effects and mask. They apply to every track below it for as long as it lasts.
Adjustment layers have timing, colour, effects and a mask; they have no picture or sound of their own.
Transitions
A transition leads into a clip from the clip right before it on the same track. Select clips and press ⌘D for a crossfade, right-click for a crossfade or dip to black, or pick any kind and its length in the inspector's Transition in section.
| Transition | Look |
|---|---|
| Crossfade | The incoming clip fades in over the outgoing one. |
| Dip to black | Fades out to black and back in. The only kind that does not overlap the clips. |
| Wipe left | A hard edge sweeps across to the left, revealing the incoming clip. |
| Wipe right | A hard edge sweeps across to the right. |
| Slide in from right | The incoming clip slides in from the right. |
| Slide in from left | The incoming clip slides in from the left. |
| Zoom in | The incoming clip settles in from slightly larger while it fades in. |
| Blur | The incoming clip sharpens from a blur while it fades in. |
| Paper tear | A jagged paper edge reveals the incoming picture with a light fibrous rim. |
| No signal | Offset horizontal bands and scanlines disrupt the incoming picture before it settles. |
| Ink blot | An irregular ink shape grows from the centre to reveal the incoming picture. |
Every kind except the dip overlaps the two clips (later clips move left by the length of the overlap) and crossfades their sound. Adding a transition to a clip that has one replaces it; removing a crossfade undoes the overlap.
For a designed transition in your own colours (panels, an iris, stripes or blocks that wipe across the cut), use a transition template from the motion graphics library: it sits on a track above the cut and covers it, so a plain cut underneath is enough.
Infographics
Bars, donut charts, key numbers, trend lines, milestone timelines and callouts pinned to a point in the shot are motion graphics made from templates, with editable titles, values, units, themes and sources. Agents can make them from plain data with add_infographic and add_data_callout. See Charts and callouts from data.
Use verified values for a finished video. The style library includes footage-backed studies with clearly labelled demo data.
Scopes and compare
The Colour workspace (⌥3) docks scopes beside the viewer and opens the colour tools in the inspector.
- Waveform: brightness across the picture, 0 to 100, with guides every 25.
- Vectorscope: hue and saturation, with the skin-tone line that faces should sit along.
- Histogram: red, green and blue levels.
- Hold to compare: hold the button on the viewer to see the picture without its grade and effects, and let go to see it graded again.
Split screen and picture in picture
Select clips that play at the same time on different video tracks and pick a layout under Arrange on screen in the inspector: side by side, top and bottom, three across, a grid of four, or picture in picture in any corner (the clip on the higher track becomes the small one). Each picture fills its area, centre-cropped. A single clip can be made small in a corner or put back to full frame. Agents use arrange_clips.
Shapes and overlays
In the Text panel, Shapes and overlays adds, at the playhead: a box, a circle, an arrow, a callout (a box with text), a blur box that blurs whatever is under it, and a redaction (a solid box). Graphics sit on their own Graphics tracks, pop in like titles, and can be moved and resized on the viewer. The inspector's Shape section changes the kind, size, line and fill. Agents use add_overlay.